


when you leashed expect it

by beegreen



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drunkenness, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 19:19:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12514624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beegreen/pseuds/beegreen
Summary: “Um,” Jamie clears his throat, “You do know it’s the middle of the night and you’re sitting in my yard, petting my dog… which... like what the fuck?”





	when you leashed expect it

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt found [here](http://theappleppielifestyle.tumblr.com/post/112392287541/list-of-aus-to-consider-where-one-or-both-of-ur), all I could think of was Tyler/Jamie.
> 
>  
> 
> I met you last night when you were drunkenly patting my dog in my backyard at 3 in the morning and when I asked you what the hell you were doing, you slurred something about dogs being great. Then you threw up on my feet. Fifteen minutes later you were passed out on my couch so that’s why you’re here right now. Also, what the fuck is your name and why were you patting a dog in a stranger’s backyard in the middle of the night’? 
> 
> Thank you to Aleks and Helen for all of the help.

Waking up to warm, stinky dog breath on his face is not what Jamie would describe as a pleasant wake up call, but here he is at 3 a.m., blearily staring at a pair of big brown eyes inches from his face. He lifts his arm to shield himself from Juice’s pants, but now Juice knows he’s awake, which leads to an even less enjoyable tongue across his cheek. 

“Juiceeeeee,” Jamie whines, wiping the slobber off his face. 

This does nothing to deter Juice, who continues to lavish Jamie with licks, occasionally whimpering until Jamie finally gives in and sits up with a huff. 

Juice finally getting the reaction he’d wanted all along, jumps off the bed, scouring across the room, before pausing in the doorway to look back at Jamie. Jamie blinks slowly, he may still be half asleep, but he’s awake enough to catch on by now, Juice needs to go outside.

Really, Jamie has no one to blame but himself, he’s the one that agreed to watch Juice for Jordie over the weekend. He’s also the one who was so exhausted from practice that he’d rushed straight to his bedroom, dropped his clothes in a heap on the floor and climbed into bed, without letting Juice out to do his business. If anything, Juice deserves a treat for being such a good boy and waking Jamie instead of leaving an accident behind the ficus in the living room, like he did when he was younger.

Jamie pads groggily across the hall after Juice, opening the sliding door to the yard. Juice doesn’t even wait for Jamie to open the door all the way, scampering out once the space is wide enough for him to squeeze through.

Jamie turns on the porch light and heads into the kitchen. He’s digging through the cupboard searching for Juice’s favorite treat when he hears him bark loudly. Two more barks follow and then silence. That’s weird, Jamie thinks since Jordie has Juice trained pretty well and he doesn’t usually bark for no reason. It’s probably a squirrel or something, Jamie tries to convince his still foggy brain, but something just doesn’t feel right if the weird churning in his stomach is anything to go by. 

Quickening his pace, Jamie walks back to the sliding door, coming to a dead halt when he reaches it. Under the glow of the porch light, he can make out Juice, tail wagging up a storm, bouncing around what looks like a man lying flat on his back in the middle of the yard.

Jamie grabs the bat he keeps by the door - if there was ever a time being a professional baseball player was a good thing, this would be it. His movements are slow and deliberate as he makes his way towards the man and Juice, trying his best not to spook either. 

Jamie is about halfway across the yard when he’s able to make out the man and Juice clearly. While Jamie isn’t sure what he expected, it definitely wasn’t this. The man is laughing as he scratches behind Juice’s ears, who is prancing around the man’s torso and licking at his face. Jamie sputters. “Hey, you! What are you doing here?” he shouts out.

Upon hearing Jamie’s voice, Juice jumps back from the man and happily bounces towards Jamie, pawing at his feet. 

The man meanwhile sits up clumsily, bringing his hand up into a peace sign. “Oh, hey man,” he greets with a dopey smile like he’s not randomly sitting on the ground of a stranger’s backyard in the middle of the night, petting a dog he doesn’t own.

Now that Jamie can actually see the man’s face, he’s definitely seen this guy around the neighborhood before- it would be hard not to notice him with a face like that and arms like those. They’ve even shared a nod of acknowledgment once or twice. But he still has no clue why this guy is in his backyard and how he got into it in the first place. While the fence isn’t particularly tall, Jamie knows from personal experience, it’s not an easy climb, even sober. So, Jamie’s not sure how this guy managed when he’s clearly drunk. 

As Jamie gets his thoughts in order, Juice is still happily trotting from Jamie to the man and back again, clearly enjoying all the excitement after being home alone all day. The man meanwhile is still smiling lazily at Jamie, sitting up with his legs splayed out, indulging Juice with scratches when he comes by. 

“Um,” Jamie clears his throat, slowly explaining, “You do know it’s the middle of the night and you’re sitting in my yard, petting my dog… which... like what the fuck?” 

The man scrunches his forehead, confusion coloring his face as he turns his head, seemingly only now taking in his surroundings. He pushes himself up off the ground and walks towards Jamie, stopping directly in front of him, close enough that Jamie can make out the cute little dent at the tip of the man’s nose. 

“Dogs are great. Your dog is great,” the man slurs, before his eyes widen in horror and seemingly without warning there’s throw up on the grass below him and all over Jamie’s slippers. 

“Sorry, oh man, I’m so sorry,” the man rushes out dejectedly, making like he’s about to bend down towards the mess. Jamie wraps an arm around the man’s bicep to stop him. He doesn’t think cleaning up the mess is urgent at the moment. “No, no it’s okay.”

While the last thing Jamie expected dealing with tonight was a drunk stranger vomiting in his yard, he’s not about to kick out this guy who is clearly intoxicated. “It’s happened to all of us. Let’s get you inside,” Jamie says, simultaneously shucking the slippers off and reaching to pick up Juice so he doesn’t try to eat the sick. 

The man freezes for a moment and Jamie wonders if he’s sobered up enough to realize and be nervous about entering a stranger's home, but just as quickly as it came the worried look disappears from the man’s face. Jamie moves towards the house and up the two wooden steps that lead to the door with the man following close behind staggering a bit. He lets Juice down into the house, motioning for the man to follow, too. 

“Here, you sit. Let me get you some water,” Jamie nods towards the couch. The man plops down unceremoniously and Juice takes the opportunity to jump onto the couch and press up against the man’s legs.

Jamie grabs a glass and fills it from the fridge debating if he’s just made a grave error by letting a stranger into his home. He’s not a household name yet, but he’s not entirely unknown either. And even if he wasn’t a professional athlete, he’s pretty sure that letting a stranger into his house, who essentially broke onto his property goes against all the “stranger danger” lessons he learned as a kid. But he just doesn’t have it in him to let someone who’s clearly drunk just go on his way, he’d like to think someone would look out for him if the roles were reversed.

When he reenters the living room, the man is lying on his couch, Juice plopped across his chest, cuddling. Jamie momentarily wonders how creepy it would be to snap a picture of this random hot dude and his dog, ultimately settling on way too creepy. “Here, drink up,” he says instead, handing the glass to the man, who takes it appreciatively and immediately starts drinking. “Thanks,” he moans in between gulps. 

“Let me get you some bedding and a change of clothes, I think you’ve got some throw up on your shirt,” Jamie says, already making his way to his bedroom. He grabs a blanket and a pillow, before finding an old workout shirt and shorts from the top of his drawer. The letters on the shirt are a bit worn out but it’s freshly laundered and clean, which is good enough he figures. He heads back to the living room and if he hadn’t already wanted to capture the moment before, he’s definitely tempted to take a picture now. He refrains and does his best not to stare either, which is hard- really, really hard.

The man, who has seemingly discarded both his shirt and pants, is in his boxers spread across the couch- all hard muscle, defined abs, and tattooed arms on display. Juice is lying by his head, face nuzzled into the man’s soft curls. Both are asleep peacefully. Jamie places the pillow and clothes on the empty end of the couch and carefully covers the man with the blanket. 

He wonders if it’s safe to go and sleep in his own bed or if he’s better off sleeping on the armchair because after all, he doesn’t actually know this man. He tries the armchair, shifting from side to side, trying to get comfortable, but he’s just too damn tall to fit. Eventually, he decides that his bed is the better choice. He’s still exhausted and he’s seen the guy around enough times, that if he were to steal anything Jamie could probably find him, he reasons. Making his way back to his bedroom, he climbs into the soft warmth of his sheets and falls asleep instantly.  
___

The second time Jamie wakes up is way more pleasant than the first. The delicious salty scent of bacon wafts through the air as Jamie hears a quiet woof, followed by a “Shh, boy, shh. You don’t want to wake your owner.” 

He grabs a t-shirt and feels around for his slippers, before remembering they’re dirty and still in his backyard. He walks barefoot into the hallway and to the kitchen, where he’s greeted by the site of a broad back in his old shirt, BENN 14 fading across the back, at his stove cooking. Juice, however, spots him immediately rushing over excitedly.

“Morning, uhh,” Jamie says, bending down to pet Juice behind his ears the way he likes.

“Good morning,” replies the man cheerfully. “Thank you so much for taking me in last night. I’m so sorry about all that. I’m Tyler. I hope I can make it up to you with breakfast, even though I raided your fridge to do so,” he adds grinning.

There’s something about this guy that charms Jamie instantly. He nods his head in assent subconsciously. 

“Yeah, no, it’s alright. I mean, okay. It’s okay, we’ve all been there,” Jamie slowly gets out, shrugging. 

“No honestly, thank you. I don’t know how many people would look out for a stranger the way you did for me. I seriously owe you,” Tyler says, pushing a plate of eggs and bacon towards Jamie. 

“What’s your name, by the way? I should probably know my hero's name,” he asks with a playful eyebrow raise.

“Jamie. Not a hero, just a good neighbor,” Jamie replies, before shoveling a forkful of eggs into his mouth and moaning in delight. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to you last night? Why the fuck were you in my yard?”

“I don’t remember everything, but I definitely won’t be drinking like that again. It’s been awhile since I’ve gone heavy on the alcohol and I guess it’s true what they say, your tolerance does go down with age. I live in the place two doors down, I must’ve somehow ended up at your place instead of my own,” Tyler explains.

The next two hours pass by quickly as they talk and get to know each other. Jamie finds out Tyler is Canadian like him. He’s an athlete too, a prospect for the Stars and he’s got three dogs- Gerry, Cash, and Marshall. Jamie shares about his family, baseball and even opens up about missing home. Jamie’s not really a talker but something about Tyler has him sharing and listening in a way he’s never done with anyone besides family. 

Eventually, they notice the time. Tyler is incredibly apologetic about the night before, promising to buy Jamie new slippers and making plans for Juice and his boys to have a proper introduction. He slips his number into Jamie’s phone, promising to follow through. Jamie just nods enthusiastically, beaming because he’s really enjoyed talking to Tyler.

He walks Tyler towards the front door. “Weird seeing you leave my house this way when I know you prefer the fence,” Jamie jokes.

Tyler chuckles. “Yeah, yeah laugh it up. But really text me when you’re up for our doggie play date,” Tyler says, opening the front door. 

“Or a real date, whichever,” he adds with a wink as the door falls shut behind him.


End file.
